“Will you do me a favor, Achenyo?” Mama called as she looked up from her weaving. Beside her was a pile of wild-grass stalks (秆). Mama took a stalk, laid it along the length of the half-finished bag, and began to weave (编织). In the corner were pots of dyes (染料) she’d use to paint the finished bags. “Will you get me some water for the dyes?” “Of course, Mama!” Achenyo picked up a pot as she ran outside. She didn’t like weaving, although it was a tradition for a mother to pass on the trade to her daughter. Outside, Achenyo called to her neighbor Ajuma. Both girls, with pots balanced on their heads, made their way to the river.
Achenyo and Ajuma soon arrived at the water’s edge, and they found a huge surprise. The river was gone! In its place was a blanket of dark green leaves and lavender-colored (淡紫色的) flowers. “Oh no!” Achenyo cried. “Mama won’t have water to mix the dyes for her bags.” When the adults arrived at the riverbank, they shook their heads, saying “They’ve struck again!”
Last year, the rainy season had brought an invasion (入侵) of water hyacinths. The plants had covered the river and left no room to dip a pot to get water. And now they were back. The adults walked into the water. They began pulling up water hyacinths and throwing them onto the riverbank. When they’d cleared enough plants, the girls filled their pots with water. A pile of water hyacinths lay on the riverbank. What a shame to waste such pretty flowers, Achenyo thought. She picked some for Mama, and then the girls headed home. Each day, they found the river covered by water hyacinths as if no one had cleared the waterfront (水边地) the day before. To fill their pots, they again had to pull up and throw water hyacinths onto the riverbank. The pile on the sand grew taller.
One day, as Achenyo moved an armful of dried water hyacinths out of her way, she had an idea. Carrying the plants under her arm, she ran home.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
3. 参考词汇：weave vt. & vi. (wove, woven) 编织
“Mama, will you teach me to weave?” asked Achenyo eagerly.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One afternoon, Achenyo held up her finished work made from water hyacinths.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My wife, our two kids under 4 and I were in the post office a few weeks ago. We have to go there every month to pay various fees. I was being served when an old man in his eighties, with obvious, significant health issues, was waiting to pay his electricity bill. He was struggling to walk on a walking stick, and his hands and arms were shaking all the time. I knew by feeling that the old man was in trouble. After asking, I figured out that the old man's problem was that he was 20 cents short.
The lady behind the counter had the old man in such a state, looking for a further 20 cents, and he was shaking, obviously looking upset. But instead of letting the man go, she insisted that if his bill wasn't going to be paid in full, the electricity company would probably give a fine on his next bill for unpaid fees.
Hearing this, I got really upset. So I went over and asked the lady behind the counter to give ALL of his money back to the old man and I handed her my debit card and paid the bill for him.
The old man was asking “why are you doing this?” as he began crying. I told him because it was the right thing to do. He thanked me over and over and smiled at my two kids on his way out of the post office.
The best part of this event was that the old man walked out of the post office and straight to Woolies and bought a full basket of food, which he wouldn't have been able to buy had I not done that at the post office.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
It happened that we met this old man again in our community.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Our family decided to help improve the old man's situation.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________From her lifeguard station at the end of the pool, Jessica noticed clouds forming in the sky. By the time she took a break at 2:30, the wind was picking up and the sky was darkening. The pool manager announced over the loudspeaker that the pool was closing immediately, due to a weather warning. He asked everyone to head to the safety of home before the storm hit.
All of the swimmers had left by 3: 30 except for Jessica's neighbor, eight-year-old Zack Hill. Zack's mother had dropped him off at the pool while she went to work. She had planned to pick him up later, but the storm was coming fast. Jessica decided that she would drop Zack off on her way home. She taped a note for Mrs. Hill on the door of the pool office and headed out.
The minute Jessica and Zack left the parking lot, it was clear that this was no ordinary storm. The wind was very strong, the storm clouds were dark, and the sky had turned a terrible green. The rain hit just as Jessica turned onto her street, Jessica said, “Jack, I'm going to take you to my house. We need to get inside right away, and your house is farther away than mine.”
She pressed the garage-door opener, but nothing happened. The electricity was out. The front door was only a few feet away, but the wind was so strong that Jessica and Zack had to fight their way out of the car and into the house. Jessica held Zack's hand firmly. The door was heavy with the pressure of the wind. Finally, it opened, but it was blown out of Jessica's hand and it hit the side of the house. The window broke into pieces，Jessica picked up Zack and threw the two of them inside; her only thought was to get to a safe place.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150词左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
Remembering everything she could learn from her emergency training, Jessica took Zack to the basement.
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After a final crash, the sound of the storm grew distant.
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